Ok Google, ok Whopper, ok?

Some call it creepy, some call it genius. Burger King’s new marketing strategy includes a tactic that has never been seen before. By leaning in close to the camera and saying “Okay Google, what is the Whopper Burger?” the actor in the latest Burger King commercial effectively sets off all Google home devices. The device will then talk about the Whopper burger, specifically the first paragraph of the wikipedia article on the sandwich. It’s been tested, and it works, and it’s scaring the daylights out of some consumers.

Technology has come very far in a very short span of time, and the idea of corporations taking advantage of this may be scary now, but soon it may be commonplace for devices to interact with each other in this way. Artificial intelligence is all around us, and it comes as no shock that companies are beginning to take advantage of it. Is this any more invasive than pop up ads tailored to you based on search history, or getting push notifications from companies you’ve given your email address?
People cannot surround themselves with technology smart enough to respond to a human voice and be upset when it does it’s job. Burger King’s new ad takes advantage of something commonplace, and quite frankly, I’m shocked no one else thought of it first. The use of technology has been integrated into our everyday lives for decades, and corporations have taken advantages of that before, but it has almost never been as glaringly obvious as a man leaning into the camera and activating personal devices. If it was a more subtle tactic, like a snapchat filter advertising for a movie or a QR coupon code, there would be almost no opposition to using technology for corporate advantage.